Business as usual

There is an enervating sense of ennui about the return of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a crushing listlessness born of numbing familiarity and neutered politics. The PM may have had his heart fixed and lost some weight by the look of him at his reception on landing in Lahore, but his return to the political stage brings little cheer or hope of change. Essentially the main political parties are in the same positions they occupied before the PM went to UK in May — if anything more entrenched. The PM has tasked Finance Minister Ishaq Dar with bringing the opposition parties to the negotiating table around the much-vexed subject of the Panama Papers and the terms of reference (ToRs) for a proposed investigation thereof.



It will be recalled that negotiations over the ToR’s broke down as fundamental differences were quickly apparent between the government and the opposition parties led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, the PTI. The PTI has threatened street agitation and is maintaining its position that the PML-N is merely trying to shield — or even preserve — the PM from any investigation of his financial affairs or those of his extended family. Eight sessions involving the two sides failed to achieve agreement. Nothing has changed since the talks collapsed and a positive reboot is highly unlikely.

The political life of the country has been on hold since the Panama Papers story broke. The opposition parties saw it as their best chance yet to unseat the PM and the PML-N and bring about an election. They were wrong. The PM is weakened but nowhere near the tipping point that would trigger an election, and assorted analysts opine that the PML-N is the most likely winner of the next elections with a similar majority — or possibly slightly reduced. All sides are currently blathering to little consequence about negotiation being the only way forward, but implicit within the very concept of negotiation is a willingness for give-and-take and there is none of that at least in the public domain. The best the government can hope for is fragmentation in the opposition ranks, cracks already are apparent, but meanwhile political aridity prevails.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2016.

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